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 In The Beginning...
The church was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and built between 1857 - 1859 by the Starkey family who owned the mill, now demolished, across the road. The church is now a Grade II* listed building.
From the beginning, St Thomas's pioneered 'new ways of being church'. In 1859 this meant a weekly celebration of the Eucharist and a robed choir!
 By the end of that century a new parish priest had been appointed. He was Fr Samuel Swire, a nephew of Fr Stanton of St Alban's, Holborn. Before long, the Eucharist was the main service on a Sunday, eucharistic vestments were worn and the Catholic faith taught with great vigour. Fr Swire was also a fervent Christian Socialist and the people of St Thomas's were left in no doubt that the Catholic faith was as much to do with questions of justice in society as with vestments, candles and incense!
Parish Priests of St Thomas's
After 100 Years
In the 1960s, the church became the spiritual home of many, newly arrived from the Caribbean and later, people from Pakistan made their home in and near the parish. The firm foundations laid by Fr Swire and his successors ensured that black Christians found a welcome in the church and positive links were formed with the Muslim and  Sikh members of the local community.
A New Beginning
The feast of Christ the King in 1990 saw the completion of a ground- breaking reordering of the interior. This was essential to provide space for the community to meet and for the liturgy to be celebrated with dignity in a thoroughly contemporary style.
Today St Thomas's serves its immediate area and also the former parish of Paddock, drawing in people from many walks of life.
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